That projected dollar amount reflects a 72.3% acceleration compared to $51.5 billion five years earlier in 2020.
Year over year, the overall value of Qatar’s exported products shrank by -9.2% starting from $97.8 billion for 2023.
Located on the Arabian Peninsula’s northeast coast, the State of Qatar borders with Saudi Arabia while sharing sea borders on the Persian Gulf with the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
Qatar’s Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 81.6% of products exported from Qatar was bought by importers in: mainland China (19.7% of the Qatari total), South Korea (12.6%), India (12%), Japan (8%), Singapore (7.2%), United Arab Emirates (4.3%), Taiwan (3.52%), Italy (3.51%), Pakistan (3.4%), Belgium (2.6%), Thailand (2.5%) and Bangladesh (2.1%).
From a continental perspective, 83.3% of Qatar’s exports by value was delivered to Asian countries while 13.3% was sold to importers based in Europe. Qatar shipped another 1.6% worth of goods to buyers in North America.
Tinier percentages went to customers based in Africa (1.3%), Latin America (0.24%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then Oceania (0.23%) led by Australia and New Zealand.
Given Qatar’s population of 3.1 million people, its total US$88.8 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $28,700 for every resident in the Middle Eastern country. That dollar metric lags the average $35,300 per capita one year earlier during 2023.
Qatar’s Top 10 Exports
The following export product groups represent the highest dollar value in Qatari global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Qatar.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$77.6 billion (87.4% of total exports)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.9 billion (2.2%)
- Fertilizers: $1.8 billion (2%)
- Aluminum: $1.6 billion (1.7%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $1.2 billion (1.3%)
- Organic chemicals: $941.7 million (1.1%)
- Gems, precious metals: $536.4 million (0.6%)
- Iron, steel: $385.8 million (0.4%)
- Machinery including computers: $284.5 million (0.3%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $273.2 million (0.3%)
Qatar’s top 10 exports accounted for 97.3% of the overall value of global Qatari shipments.
Gems and precious metals represent the fastest grower among the top 10 export categories, up by 187.6% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales were organic chemicals via a 10.3% advance.
Qatar’s shipments of inorganic chemicals posted the third-fastest gain in value, up by 4%.
The leading decliner among Qatar’s top 10 export categories was machinery including computers, pulled down by a -41.5% year-over-year drop.
At the more granular four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, petroleum gases were Qatar’s most valuable exported product worth 50.4% of the country’s total. In second place was crude oil (23.3%) trailed by refined petroleum oils (13.5%), ethylene polymers (2.1%), nitrogenous fertilizers (2%), unwrought aluminum (1.7%), hydrogen and rare gases (1%), jewelry (0.6%), acyclic hydrocarbons (0.4%) and non-sublimed sulphur (0.3%).
Qatar’s trio of largest exports by value–petroleum gases, crude oil and refined petroleum oils–reveal a highly concentrated portfolio of exported goods. Combined, the top 3 most valuable accounted for 87.2% of the Middle Eastern country’s overall export sales during 2024.
Products Resulting in Qatar’s Largest Trade Surpluses
Qatar posted an estimated US$57.2 billion trade surplus during 2024, falling by -13.8% from $66.3 billion in black ink one year earlier for 2023.
The following types of Qatari product shipments represent positive net exports or a trade balance surplus. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports.
In a nutshell, net exports represent the amount by which foreign spending on a home country’s goods or services exceeds or lags the home country’s spending on foreign goods or services.
- Mineral fuels including oil: US$77 billion (Down by -8.2% since 2023)
- Fertilizers: $1.8 billion (Down by -2.7%)
- Aluminum: $1.41 billion (Down by -14.2%)
- Plastics, plastic articles: $1.38 billion (Down by -36.6%)
- Organic chemicals: $793.3 million (Up by 11.1%)
- Inorganic chemicals: $441.4 million (Down by -35.1%)
- Salt, sulphur, stone, cement: $211.1 million (Up by 433%)
- Copper: $120.3 million (Reversing a -$262.6 million deficit)
- Iron, steel: $40.4 million (Down by -79.8%)
- Lead: $7.7 million (Down by -44.9%)
Qatar has highly positive net exports in the international trade of mineral fuels-related goods, historically petroleum gases and both crude and refined petroleum oils. In turn, these cashflows indicate Qatar’s strong competitive advantages under the mineral fuels including oil product category.
Products Causing Qatar’s Worst Trade Deficits
Below are exports from Qatar that result in negative net exports or product trade balance deficits. These negative net exports reveal product categories where foreign spending on home country Qatar’s goods trail Qatari importer spending on foreign products.
- Machinery including computers: -US$6.3 billion (Up by 12.4% since 2023)
- Vehicles: -$3.4 billion (Up by 149%)
- Aircraft, spacecraft: -$2.4 billion (Up by 188.4%)
- Electrical machinery, equipment: -$2.1 billion (Down by -18.5%)
- Gems, precious metals: -$1.62 billion (Up by 82.3%)
- Articles of iron or steel: -$1.62 billion (Down by -0.1%)
- Optical, technical, medical apparatus: -$782.5 million (Up by 22.3%)
- Pharmaceuticals: -$685.1 million (Down by -25.6%)
- Ships, boats: -$638.5 million (Reversing a $362.9 million surplus)
- Meat: -$597.1 million (Up by 13.5%)
Qatar has highly negative net exports and therefore deep international trade deficits for products under the machinery including computers category.
Qatari Export Companies
Eight Qatari corporations rank among Forbes Global 2000 albeit many of these are in the financial services. Below are selected samples from the Forbes listing.
- Qatar National Bank (regional bank)
- Ooredoo Telecom (telecommunications services)
- Industries Qatar (specialized chemicals)
Wikipedia lists exports-related companies from Qatar. Selected examples are shown below.
- Qatar National Cement Company (cement manufacturing)
- Qatar Petroleum (oil, gas)
- Qatar Steel (steel, other basic materials)
- Qatargas (natural gas)
- RasGas (natural gas)
In macroeconomic terms, Qatar’s total exported goods represent 24.7% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2024 ($359.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars). That 24.7% for exports to overall GDP in PPP for 2024 compares to an average 30.5% for 2023. Those percentages suggest a relatively decreasing reliance on products sold on international markets for Qatar’s total economic performance, albeit based on a relatively short timeframe.
Another key indicator of a country’s economic performance is its unemployment rate. Qatar’s unemployment rate was 0.1% at December 2024, same as an average 0.1% one year prior according to Trading Economics statistics.
Qatar’s capital city is Doha.
See also World’s Richest Export Countries, Japan’s Top Trading Partners, India’s Top Trading Partners and South Korea’s Top Trading Partners
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Profiles. Accessed on September 15, 2025
Forbes 2020 Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on September 15, 2025
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on September 15, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 15, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on September 15, 2025
Wikipedia, Gross domestic product. Accessed on September 15, 2025
Wikipedia, List of Companies of Qatar. Accessed on September 15, 2025
Wikipedia, Purchasing power parity. Accessed on September 15, 2025
Wikipedia, Qatar. Accessed on September 15, 2025